Karl morstadt



(No Model.)

' K. MORSTADT.

WAFER CAPSULE.

No. 582,021. Patented May 4, 1897.

KARL MORSTADT, OF PRAGUE, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

WAFER-CAPSU LE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,021, dated May 4, 189'7. Application filed January 2, 1897. $erial No. 61 7,6 95. (No specimens.)

T0 aZl whom it ntaty concern:

Be itknown that I, KARL MORSTADT, manufacturer, a citizen of the Empire of Austria- I-Iungary, residing at Prague, in the Kingdom of Bohemia,Empire of Austria-I-Iungary,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Medicinal Wafers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to Wafer-capsules for inclosing pulverulent medicaments; and its object is to provide improved wafers from which capsules can be made up without any liability to stiffen or harden at the edges or to adhere together.

For inclosing pulverulent medicaments druggists employ the so-called medicinal wafers, which are wafers having the form shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a specimen in section,on a greatly enlarged scale, of the ordinary type; Fig. 2, a plan view of same, and Fig. 3 a section of a complete capsule, while Fig. i is a section, and Fig. 5 a plan view, of my improved wafer. Fig. 6 is a section of a capsule formed of two such improved wafers. Fig. 7 shows a plan of the device employed for inserting the powder in the wafers. Fig. 8 is a section on the line as 00 of Fig. 7.

The wafer a has ordinarily a recessed dish shape and a flat edge or flange r, Figs. 1 and 2. The powder is placed in the dish-shaped recess, and the flat edge or flange r is then moistened and a similar wafer placed thereon, as shown in Fig. 3. The moistened edger of the one water adheres to the edge of the wafer laid upon it, and the powder remains inclosed between the two. However popular this method of inclosing medicaments in a pulverulent form may be, even with the druggist, complaints are still made about certain drawbacks connected therewith, and these are as follows:

The druggist cannot conveniently pack the finished wafer-capsules in boxes or cases and put them on one side until the dampened edges have become entirely dry, as, if the capsules come in contact while the edges are still damp, they adhere to one another, and if it be then desired to separate them one from another several capsules are easily damaged, and the drug or medicament falls out. If the capsules be inserted in boxes or cases with their edges still damp, the wafers stick to the cases, and the capsules can only be used or obtained after destroying the case. The drawback which is most evident, however, consists in the fact that the edges of such capsules, when they have become dry, are too hard and stiff and soften with more difficulty in the mouth than the other parts of the capsule and thus prevent their being easily swallowed, as they tickle the palate and even the esophagus. I remove all these drawbacks by making the edge of the wafer not entirely level, but provided with an annular projection, and such medicinal wafers form the object of the present invention. 0;, Fig. 4, shows this improved dishshaped recessed wafer, r being the flat flange or rim with the annular projection surrounding the recess of the capsule.

In making up the capsules the annular projection is alone moistened, and a second similar wafer is laid thereon, whereupon the projections '0 adhere together, while the rims or flanges 0' remain dry. Such capsules do not then stick to one another nor to thecase or box in which they are packed, and the edge r, as it is not moistened, remains easily soluble, does not become hard, and the capsules cause no inconvenience in swallowing.

The separate wafer -capsules themselves are made in the usual manner from waferpaste.

The inclosing of the powders in the wafers and the making of the wafer-capsules takes place by means of the apparatus shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Two metal plates 19, hinged at c, are provided with corresponding recesses 0, the diameter of which corresponds to the diameter of the wafer-capsules, and are so arranged that when both plates are shut together the recesses 0 on both sides exactly coincide or stand one over the other. In these recesses of the plates 19, which must be laid out flat side by side, the wafers (half-capsules) are then inserted, and the portions of powder which are to be inclosed are inserted in the separate wafers of the one plate. The projections 41 of the rims or flanges r of the wafers of the other plate are then run over, preferably with a moistened felt roller, or these projections are moistened in any other suitable manner, and finally this metal plate,

which contains the covering-wafers, is moved fers having rims, and meeting annular pro- 10 on its hinges or pivots down upon the first jections rising above and separating the rims.

metal plate, whereby the projections o ad- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as here to one another on both sides and form my invention I have signed my name in presthe capsules. ence of two subscribing witnesses.

I declare that what I claim is- KARL MORSTADT.

1. A recessed capsule-wafer having a rim, \Vitnesses: and an ann ular projection rising above its rim. HENRY SCHMOLKER,

2. A hollow capsule, consisting of two Wa- ADOLPH FISCHER. 

